Chapter 25: Know Thine Enemy

"So, speaking of classes," said Dawn, turning to the two boys on her left, "what classes are you two taking? Rico, I know you have the other Intro to Magic, with Professor Rook. Are you in that too, Duncan?"

Duncan shook his head, his lips thinning with displeasure. "I have no desire to learn magic."

"And like I keep saying, that's dumb, if you hate it so much you should learn about it so you can recognize it." Rico turned to Dawn. "He's so Christian he thinks magic is evil."

Dawn raised her eyebrows, looking at Corrie, who raised hers back, probably thinking the same thing as Dawn was--if this were the Middle Ages, would Duncan have been one of the Christians demanding that they be burnt at the stake as witches? Turning back to Duncan, she said slowly (thinking of the faeries in the woods), "I guess I can understand that perspective. But why are you here if you hate magic so much?"

Duncan shrugged. "It's a good school. And I do agree with Rico that I should know my enemy--but," he added with a faint grin that looked out of place on his usually serious face, "I think I can learn enough about the enemy from the one I'm living with."

Dawn grinned. "So you two are still friends even though one of you hates magic and the other is learning it?"

Duncan raised his hands in a what-can-you-do gesture. "Old habits die hard."

"We've been friends... well, forever," Rico explained. "We grew up living next door to each other, and our moms are good friends with each other."

"Do you two have majors in mind yet?" Lorelei asked over Dawn's shoulder.

"Magic, I think," Rico said with a shrug. "I don't really have any career ambitions, and magic seems the most interesting."

"I'm doing premed," said Duncan. "I want to be a doctor, or maybe a veterinarian."

"So that's why I saw you in the science building the other day," Dawn said. "I waved at you, but I guess you didn't notice." She'd been leaving her biology class and he'd been going in; it had been crowded.

"I'm glad to hear you're not so crazy Christian that you think doctors are evil, too," said Lorelei with a grin.

Duncan winced. "Christian Scientists are just one of many groups that give Christians a bad name."

Corrie pushed her chair back and picked up her dishes. "I'm finished eating," she announced, "and I can't stand it--I'm going to the library."

"I don't think you're going to find anything," Lorelei warned her. "I doubt you're the first to think of looking for her in the library, and it wouldn't be a mystery if anyone had found anything."

Corrie shrugged. "I have to at least try. Who wants to come with me?"

"I will," said Dawn, standing up and picking up her own empty dishes.

"Me too." Edie echoed their actions.

"Okay, see you later, I guess," Dawn said to Rico. He stood up quickly and gave her a hug--her hands were too full to return it--and a kiss on the cheek. She grinned over her shoulder at him as the three of them walked away.

"You two are just sickeningly cute, aren't you?" said Corrie.

Dawn tried not to blush again--she'd been doing too much of that lately. "I don't mean to!"

"Aww, I don't mind," she said, pushing the door open as they left the building the dining hall was in. "It's nice that you guys make each other happy. What about you, Edie?"

"I can hardly complain," Edie said with a shrug, then a sudden mischievous grin. "I'm a little jealous, but that's just because you're so devastatingly beautiful, Dawn."

Dawn laughed. "Rico says the same thing."

"On three, okay? One, two, three..." Corrie prompted, then together they chorused, "Awwwwww!"

"Soon you will both be dating people, and then I will get you back," Dawn warned with mock-anger. "You won't know I'm there, and then suddenly... squealing."

They laughed until they reached the door of the library, when they quieted down, all of them having plenty of experience with libraries, as well as respect for them. "Well, this is your thing, Corrie," Dawn said softly. "What do we do first?"

"The computers, I guess." Corrie led the way through a pair of heavy glass doors into the computer room. There were only a few other students scattered about it, but it was only the first week of the semester--Dawn imagined it would fill up more quickly as exams approached. They found a row of computers that were unoccupied, and Corrie sat down at a computer, Dawn and Edie taking seats to either side of her. She logged in and they waited for the computer to boot up.